If any Action TV Show of the storied decade of the 1980s more completely encapsulated what was considered “cool” than Miami Vice, I don’t know what it was.
Airing on NBC from 1984-1989, Miami Vice was a cop show with a totally tubular New Wave edge to it. Essentially inventing the entire fashion concept of “t-shirt-under-sportcoat,” Miami Vice can take credit (and blame) for a lot of 80s fashion staples: loafers without socks, neon colors, white sportcoats, linen pants, and five o'clock shadow.
The show followed Detective Sonny Crockett (Don Johnson) and Detective Rico Tubbs (Philip Michael Thomas), two undercover Miami-Dade Police detectives on crime-solving mission after crime-solving mission. The dudes got to dress completely rad because they were undercover. And, because of their status as vice cops, the cases they investigated often involved the real glamour crimes: drugs, prostitution, gambling, etc.
The fashion was just one part of Miami Vice’s incredible appeal. There was also the music:
Jan Hammer’s theme song for the show is maybe one of the most-recognized television themes in history. And his score to each episode of the show helped to drive home that this show really was cool. You can’t fake cool. In the last half of the 1980s, Jan Hammer and the creative team of Miami Vice really did know what cool was, and they delivered it on a weekly basis.
So that’s Miami Vice. What wine are we going to pair with this iconic television program?
Rose
Just in general, and frankly, for one reason and one reason only. The show’s color palette consisted entirely of Caribbean-feeling pastels and neons. Bright, bright colors. I just can’t pass up the opportunity to pair pink wine with the show that made it cool for men to wear pink shirts.
So raise a glass of rose to Miami Vice. Crockett and Tubbs would approve.
Some specific roses I can recommend:
- 2009 Pithy Little Wine Company Sangiovese Rose (88)
- Domaine Carneros Brut Rose (89)
- 2009 Quivira Grenache Rose (82)